Knowledge through art

Sustaining culture

Graham Moore

Passing on knowledge to a younger generation isn't always easy. Aboriginal
Heritage Conservation Officer, Graham Moore, remembers a time in his life
when he didn't want to know about his Koori culture.

Graham Moore

As a young boy I had all my uncles and aunties and I was forever ..,
and we come from a very large family. Mum was one of thirteen. So I had
all these aunties and uncles and they associated with the other families
as well. So when I was a youngfellah I was taught different things by
uncle and uncles depending where we were and what we were doing. Hunting,
for example, tracking, different types of tracks he’d show me in the
sand for different types of animals. But as I got older, and the Aboriginal
movement in the sixties was growing, I found that society for me, I was
more suppressed. So I wasn’t allowed to go to the pool as a kid,
I didn’t understand it. It was acceptable, I had to stand outside
with my mum holding her hand while other people were getting their hair
cut or being in a shop getting served and we’d have to wait. I thought
it was natural. But as I’m saying to you, when I got older, I felt
within me that it was shameful to be Aboriginal, because of the legislation
and the way people treated us when we came to town. So the learning was
pushed back in, the shame, the feeling of being shamed. You didn’t
particularly stand up and say “I’m Aboriginal” at that
time. Well we did, but the consequences were that we were fringe dwellers.
So when you ask me that question it’s really difficult, because after
that hump in my life I’ve asked “Who am I? Am I black, am I
white, what am I?” I became whole because I then ran into old uncles.
They told me things that then started the spark to be who I am today. And
that’s to be full and round, in here, tjukra.